Thanks to Pim for hosting this month's Wine Blogging Wednesday, and coming up with a great little theme!
I had a bit of trouble with this one. But I found a bottle of Tractor Shed Red this past weekend on my first foray into Costco (more on that another day), and thought it quite fit the bill.
Unfortunately, we got a bad bottle. Or rather, I think we got a bad bottle, because all the reviews I've read of the stuff have been pretty complimentary.
Wine: Tractor Shed Red '01, Tudal Winery, Napa
Varietal: A blend of Sangiovese, Merlot & Zinfandel (don't have percentages, but I believe it's about 60/20/20)
Price: $15 in the release year, $9 for the '01 at Costco
The Nose:
C, upon first sniff, proclaimed "it smells like a raspberry Jolly Rancher!". I had to agree. It also smelled like hot, cooked berry jam to me.
The Eyes:
Bright ruby red (which is counter to my thought that it was cooked), thin at the edges, weak legs. Not much deeper than a rose.
The Palate:
This was a stewed fruit bomb. Treacly sweet, candy like at the onset. Nothing interesting mid-palate - no tannins to hold it together, no backbone at all. C tasted "tar"... The finish was rather long and very bitter.
We let our glasses sit for an hour, and went back for another taste. All the fruit and funk had blown off by this point, but so had any flavor. It was flabby, insipid stuff.
The Wrap-up:
I don't read reviews before I taste a wine - I have found that I tend to color my own opinions by doing so. So, I didn't have high expectations for this wine, primarily because it was such an unorthodox blend. But, I really did want to like it. I thought it could be a "fun" wine... a wine for hamburgers and pizza. Why? Exactly because it was such an unorthodox blend.
I feel bad that the bottle we had was cooked or over the hill. I wouldn't mind trying this again, but only if it's a more recent year, and of known provenence. Not to knock Costco and all that, but who knows how they keep some of those wines, you know?